Crowe triumphs at Actors Guild awards

Russell Crowe and the director Ron Howard both picked up major awards for A Beautiful Mind over the weekend, in the last set of awards before the Oscars in two weeks' time.

Crowe looks back on track for an Academy Award after winning best actor at the Screen Actors Guild awards last night. Many thought he had ruined his chances of Oscar success after he gave a stern dressing down to a BBC producer who cut his acceptance speech at the Baftas. But he remains favourite to win the best actor award for the second year running, joining Spencer Tracey and Tom Hanks as only the third actor to do so.

Halle Berry beat favourite Sissy Spacek to pick up best actress, for her portrayal of a condemned man's wife in Monster's Ball. Robert Altman's Gosford Park was honoured for best cast performance, which is the nearest thing to a best film prize at the SAG awards. It beat A Beautiful Mind and The Fellowship of the Ring to take the award, which means that all five best picture nominees have now won major awards.

It was another good night for British actors. Helen Mirren was named best supporting actress for her role as the housekeeper in Gosford Park, and Sir Ian McKellen won best supporting actor for playing Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring.

On Saturday, Ron Howard beat Baz Luhrman, Peter Jackson and Ridley Scott to win the prestigious Directors Guild of America trophy for A Beautiful Mind. The film, starring Russell Crowe as the troubled mathematician John Nash, has already won a host of awards and is expected to do well on Oscar night. But history has shown that winners of the Directors Guild trophy do not necessarily go on to win the Oscar. Ang Lee last year won the DGA for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but saw the Academy statuette handed to Steven Soderbergh for Traffic.